Coast Guard continues search for missing mariner off Lanai

The debris field from the fishing vessel Munchkin off Lanai, Hawaii, April 24, 2015. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo)

HONOLULU – The Coast Guard continues searching for a missing mariner after the fishing vessel he was aboard capsized approximately one mile west of Lanai, Sunday.

Missing is Ron Ingraham. The Coast Guard rescued Kenny Corder and is still searching for Ingraham after receiving a mayday call over VHF radio channel 16 at 12:12 a.m. Friday from the 34-foot fishing vessel Munchkin.

An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point located and recovered Corder in the water at 3:20 a.m. He was transferred to the Memorial Hospital on Maui where he was reportedly in good condition.

Corder reported that Ingraham was not wearing a life jacket at the time of the incident.

Coast Guard Cutter Kiska, a 110-Island class patrol boat homeported in Hilo, a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew from Station Maui and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Barbers Point continue the search for Ingraham.

Current on-scene weather conditions are 15 mph winds and 3-foot seas.

On-scene assets have completed 45 sorties, searched a total of 1,874 square miles and deployed three self-locating datum marker buoys.

Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Honolulu Command Center used data gathered from the SLDMBs and the search and rescue optimal planning system to calculate the search area. SAROPS is a software system that uses simulated particles generated by users in a graphical interface. These particles are then influenced by environmental data to provide information on search object drift. Using information on a point of origin and local currents, it calculates the most likely area to find a person or object in the water.